TALKING TO JESUS

TALKING TO JESUS

Several years ago, I realized I didn’t know Jesus as well as I wanted to. I’d been taught a lot about relating to and praying to God, but Jesus somehow got bypassed. I’d been taught that it was Christ in us but not how to connect with Him as a real person. I couldn’t help questioning, “If He is our brother, shouldn’t we be able to talk to Him? We don’t have to go through our parents to talk to our human brothers, so why should it be different with Jesus?”

 

In Acts 2:36, we’re told that God “made the same Jesus, both Lord, and Christ.” Hebrews 13:8 tells us it’s “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” We read in the Gospels that when people came to Jesus, they called Him “Lord.” When the disciples talked to Him both before and after the resurrection (John 20:26-21:25), they also called Him “Lord.” Should we do any less?

 

The Greek word for “Lord” here means “supreme in authority; by implication, Master (as a respectful title).”

 

According to Romans 10:9, “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

 

I was born again when I was about eight years old. But it wasn’t until I was a teenager that I consciously realized I wasn’t doing such a great job at being my own master. I went back to Jesus, confessed that I was a mess and needed Him to rescue me and be my Lord in guiding me in life. He was here on earth and experienced everything we’ll ever face, so He knows how to handle every situation, and he can guide us through. But sometimes, we slip up a little in that category. We direct all our prayers and communication to God Almighty and leave Jesus out.

 

I was reading Acts 7 about Stephen: “And they stoned Stephen calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (v. 59). In the King James Version of the Bible, whenever a word is in italics, like the word “God” in this verse, it means that the translators added it. Since the word “God” was added to the original text, we can take it out, and the verse reads: “Lord Jesus receive my spirit.” And guess who was standing right there? Saul of Tarsus!

 

“The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul” (v. 58). Saul heard Stephen speak to Jesus.

 

Later, when Saul was on his way to Damascus, “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1), a light from heaven shone, and Saul fell to the earth, and everyone there heard a voice. When Saul asked, “‘Who art thou?’ The Lord said, “‘I am Jesus’” (v. 5). When Jesus Christ spoke to Saul, it didn’t surprise him at all because he had been there when Stephen talked with Jesus.

 

When Saul got to Damascus, the Lord Jesus told a regular disciple, Ananias, to talk to Saul.

 

“And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 9:17).

 

Isn’t that awesome?! Many more verses in the Epistles document a real and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul tells the Corinthians: “Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?” (1 Cor. 9:1). Peter writes: “Even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me” (2 Pet. 1:4).

 

I’m not trying to direct anyone away from praying to God Almighty, our Father, and the kind of relationship we have with Him. I’m saying that our relationship with our Lord Jesus can also grow.

 

I learned a long time ago that my secular work is directed and orchestrated by Jesus Christ. That realization wasn’t an instantaneous revelation. It didn’t come in a dream or audible announcement or anything flashy. I prayed to God about it; then, one day, I just knew in my heart that Jesus was the one in charge of my work. He would supply the jobs and money I needed to live, pay the bills, and do what I needed to do.

 

Whenever I was out of work, I consciously went to Jesus, expecting direction as to what’s next, and I thanked Him for what He was arranging. In this category of my life, I know that God wants me to trust in the directions of His son Jesus Christ.

 

First Timothy 1:12: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.”

 

I believe there is a wonderful balance in our spiritual lives: things that God handles with us, things that our Lord Jesus handles, and things the holy spirit teaches too. We have all the help we need at our fingertips, closer even than breath itself.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

This preach letter is part of Volume 2 of my book series WINGS: A Journey in Faith. I write books that can be used as spiritual workbooks, with 52 anecdotal stories showing how to apply Biblical principles to daily life and grow into the spiritually sharp person we’ve always wanted to be. At the end of each story, there are questions to ponder or talk about, to personalize your experience with the message. The following are the ones for this story:

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1. In addition to praying to God as your Father, do you talk to Jesus Christ as your Lord? How often would you say?

2. Name three or four Bible figures who spoke with Jesus after He was raised from the dead. Document this with scriptures relating to these encounters.

3. If you haven’t talked much with the Lord Jesus, name some possible ways you might begin to acknowledge Him more often in your daily life.

 

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=BOOKS+BY+cAROLYN+mOLICA&crid=16D4X7I4BV76Z&sprefix=books+by+carolyn+molic%2Caps%2C450&ref=nb_sb_noss

 

DO IT AFRAID

DO IT AFRAID

I was scared. I don’t preach in front of people in a regular church. I minister to individuals and I reach out to people through my “preach letters” on the internet. But the Lord snuck up on me. He inspired me to go the Las Vegas Writer’s meeting a couple weeks ago. I hadn’t been since last August, but when God wants something, He gets it! So I went.

The talk was really great, but even more motivational for me, as far as the Lord was concerned, was that I heard about the workshop going on yesterday: “Presentation Skills Workshop.” OMG! “Too scary,” I thought, “but oh boy do I need it!” I knew Jesus wanted me to go. My roommate Jane is the one who knows how to talk to anyone and everyone, just off the cuff, without any problem at all. I’m not that person—I shrink and shrivel.

In fact, when I approached the man who gave the pitch on the workshop, I refused to even look at him. I just asked for the information on the workshop and wrote it down. He was trying to be friendly and asked me if he could share something he was thinking about lately. I let out a curt, “NO” and I left. I was soooo rude! God forgive me.

By last Wednesday, three days before the workshop, I was so nervous about having to speak about my writing, that my stomach closed up and I had sharp shooting pains; it was so awful that I had to call in sick. Jane asked what was wrong and I told her about how afraid I was to have to talk in public about my writing. It was like a huge unclear jumble in my mind and I was in pain.

I’m sure all of us have things we know we must face and we just don’t want to. We don’t know what the results will be and it’s just too darn scary.

What really helped me to assuage the fear, was to expose it. I had to let it out. It was eating me up. As soon as I told Jane how afraid I was, and how jumbled and cloudy my emotions were and my mind, I knew what to do—get organized, get clear.

Once things are defined, I can do much better. Instead of staying frozen in fear, I got moving. I got out my folders of notes on what my stories are about. I printed out some of the things I had already written in the Introductions to my books; I looked at how I talked about my books on Amazon, and other places where I had to write a short summary of my works. Then I printed out what I had and I worked on how to present these to the group.

We were also supposed to be ready for a mock radio/public interview that would be taped (yep, really scary). We would be answering questions like: What is your book about? Would you be willing to read an excerpt from your book for our audience? Can you tell us about yourself? Where did you get the idea to write this book? And the last one: If you were presenting to an agent or publisher looking for new clients, what have you got?

All of this was frightening, but I knew the Lord was sending me, so I determined to volunteer for everything, even the live interview. I practiced a little and did it even though I was afraid. Joyce Meyer coined the phrase “DO IT AFRAID.” It’s a good one.

When the workshop leader asked for a volunteer, I raised my hand and he motioned for me to get up. I read my story of the googly-eyed man in Starbucks and the story of Peanut, my dog, jumping into the bathtub with me in it! As I looked out into the group, I looked from person to person like you’re supposed to do, but I didn’t see any friendly faces. “OMG, they hate me!” flashed across my mind.  But I plowed ahead anyway and finished my talk.

There were things I definitely could have done better, but I got some good feedback—some really helpful hints on things I could do better. There was only one woman who was really annoyed by my talk: “That sounded like a sermon in church,” she sniped. To which I calmly replied, “They ARE preach letters after all.” (like what did she expect, a romance novel?). Oh well.

When Jane picked me up, I told her about the event and I felt like a success just showing up and participating. I ended up with four out of ten people saying complimentary things about my presentation, the one lady who was totally offended (who by the way didn’t read any of her work) and the rest who were just quiet. Then I realized, “Hey, I was the only one to get invited to speak at another event!” I guess it wasn’t that bad after all and I’ll definitely do it again. Watch out Vegas, here I come!

After I calmed down from the workshop, I got to thinking about where in the Bible someone had to do something afraid. I was reminded of one of my favorite guys, Ananias.

Ananias was not one of the twelve famous apostles. He was just a regular guy like you and me. But Jesus knew He could trust Ananias to do what He asked. Ananias had to do it afraid. Jesus told him to go down and minister to Saul, who was well known as a murderer of Christians. He was the one who was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1).

Ananias did like I did, or rather, I did like Ananias—he expressed his fear. He told Jesus he really didn’t want to do this. He was afraid of this guy Saul. But once he got it out in the air, Jesus told him it would be okay and Ananias got it together and went and did what he needed to do. He did it afraid. And just this regular guy, Ananias, was the one who got to mentor one the greatest Apostles of all time, Paul of Tarsus.

We all face those situations that make us afraid, but we know we have to do them anyway. Don’t be afraid to admit fear. It’s a fact of life. But we don’t let it rule us and ruin us. If the Lord wants us to do it, He will get us through it. And we will be successful.

Love, Carolyn

(painting I did of myself 1989 LOL!)

More good truths from God’s Word and how to apply these truths in everyday living—get your copy of WINGS: A Journey in Faith 

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